Bomb in north Egypt kills two military academy students

CAIRO (Reuters) - Two students from an Egyptian military academy were killed and six were wounded on Wednesday when a bomb targeting a minibus exploded in the northern city of Kafr al-Sheikh, two health ministry officials said.

While members of Egypt's security forces have regularly been targeted in attacks claimed by Islamist militant groups in a wave of violence since 2013, this appeared to be the first such attack on young students linked to the army.

Egypt is facing an insurgency mainly based in the North Sinai that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after protests against his rule.

The bomb exploded as the minibus stopped near the city's stadium, a witness told Reuters by phone. Kafr al-Sheikh is about 130 km (80 miles) north of Cairo in the mostly agricultural Delta region.

"My son is dead! My son is dead! He was going to his college and they killed him," said Mohamed Abu Daoud at the scene of the explosion, clutching his son's blood-stained white shirt.

Several students who witnessed the attack were crying close by the area of the blast where blood had pooled on the ground.

Students attend military academies from their late teens to early twenties and go on to a career in the army.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's attack.

Sinai Province, a militant group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, has claimed such attacks in the past but has mainly focused on targets in the Sinai Peninsula, a strategic area bordering Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.